THOUSANDS of women in Britain are having IVF unnecessarily, an infertility expert has claimed, when they are able to have a child naturally.
Almost half of couples labelled infertile after trying unsuccessfully for a baby for a year will, studies show, fall pregnant in the next two years if they just keep trying.
But many panic and pay thousands of pounds for IVF, a British Fertility Society conference heard, because they believe they have a medical problem and need treatment.
Careful with your cash: Experts say that many women will ‘waste money’ on needless IVF
Professor Siladitya Bhattacharya, from the University of Aberdeen, has said the problem is couples expecting to start their family ‘on demand’.
While IVF can help some couples with unexplained infertility, and works particularly for women over the age of 40, many more will waste their money and time, taking large amounts of drugs to stimulate their ovaries and having invasive treatment when they could have got pregnant without ever seeing a doctor.
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Addressing the conference in Edinburgh this week, Professor Bhattacharya said: ‘The evidence in support of the effectiveness of IVF on its own in couples with infertility can be challenged, because if you looked at a new treatment which was just becoming available with this data in front of you, we would hesitate to say this is a treatment you need to spend time and money on.’
Despite the first test tube baby, Louise Brown, having been born almost 40 years ago, the evidence to show how well IVF works is still very limited.
One study of infertile couples, from the journal Human Reproduction in 2010, found as few as 13 per cent had a baby as a direct result of IVF, with many falling pregnant naturally or with other treatments.
Overstatement? Couples unable to get pregnant after trying for 12 months are classed as having unexplained infertility, which experts say many think means they cannot have children
Another Dutch study suggests as many as a third of couples with a good chance of becoming pregnant chose to have IVF unnecessarily, opting for ‘overtreatment’.
Professor Bhattacharya told the conference: ‘There is a great belief in a reproductive “switch”, turned off with contraception and then on at will.
‘Because pregnancy prevention can happen on demand, the corollary of that is there is an expectation conception can happen on demand.’
He said people want a child within ‘record time’, in a society where instant gratification is the norm, adding: ‘When you have a talking fridge in your kitchen now, the expectation is you will be able to conceive when you want to.’
Couples who are unable to get pregnant after trying for 12 months are classed as having unexplained infertility, which experts say many think means they cannot have children.
Critical: Another Dutch study suggests as many as a third of couples with a good chance of becoming pregnant chose to have IVF unnecessarily, opting for ‘overtreatment’
Many are rushed into having children, even though the guidance from NICE is to wait for two years before seeking treatment.
The Aberdeen fertility expert added: ‘The expectation, as in any branch of medicine, is that if you are sick, you need treatment, and so it can be very, very counter-intuitive to argue against this.’
He is calling for more evidence that IVF is better than doing nothing.
However IVF is more effective in couples who have been unsuccessful using clomifene, a drug used to stimulate ovulation, or intra-uterine insemination which separates fast-moving sperm.
Responding to the call for IVF to be looked at again, Professor Geeta Nargund, medical director of Create Fertility, said: ‘It is important not to use unnecessary IVF treatments, drugs and interventions.
‘The first option must be to help couples achieve a natural conception unless there is clear evidence for intervention.’